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Not to mention, there wouldn't have been a clue that class 3-3 was "one student too many" if the teacher was the dead one.

It's been said that the person could be any person who had died in the past due to the curse. So it could be the teacher or a family member of someone or even another student.

Spoiler for My crackpot theory:

Honestly, with the revelations in the most recent episode (ep 5), the person who is practically causing the curse (which is the extra person, or as I like to call it so that the title actually makes sense in my eyes, the another) would be denying their own death and those around them would have their memories modified to think that the person who died is actually alive.

With this kind of information, I'm guessing that the so called countermeasure against the curse only works when the person they are ignoring is the actual person who is already dead. So if a person continues to acknowledge their existence then the countermeasure is useless.

The only way I see them solving whatever's happening, is to find out who died in the past years. After all, it's only been mentioned that the existence of the another only alters memories but not documents or pictures.

It's been said that the person could be any person who had died in the past due to the curse.

Yes, but the another is taking the role of a student in class 3-3, otherwise the student count wouldn't be one extra. An additional reason it's a student is that 3-3 of '72 recalled their dead classmate. So, in the following years, there was a "space" for an extra student.

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After all, it's only been mentioned that the existence of the another only alters memories but not documents or pictures.

Mei told Kou that even the school records were altered, so no one could trust their memories or records. The only method I can think of right now is to look for the records of deaths dating back to '73. See if any of them are uncannily similar to any of the current students.

Yes, but the another is taking the role of a student in class 3-3, otherwise the student count wouldn't be one extra. An additional reason it's a student is that 3-3 of '72 recalled their dead classmate. So, in the following years, there was a "space" for an extra student.

I see your point, but I'm not willing to back down in my theory that it could be someone outside of the classroom for this year. I'm not positive if it is someone outside of the classroom but I'm not willing to erase that possibility.

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Mei told Kou that even the school records were altered, so no one could trust their memories or records. The only method I can think of right now is to look for the records of deaths dating back to '73. See if any of them are uncannily similar to any of the current students.

Honestly, with the revelations in the most recent episode (ep 5), the person who is practically causing the curse (which is the extra person, or as I like to call it so that the title actually makes sense in my eyes, the another) would be denying their own death and those around them would have their memories modified to think that the person who died is actually alive.

This seems to be a common misunderstanding among viewers. Either that or I'm the one who is mistaken. The "another" isn't so much denying its death as it is completely unaware that it's actually dead. That's why it's so hard to spot "who is dead", at least according to Misaki.

Bear further in mind that she doesn't actually suggest that the "another" is the one who alters memories. It's just that, somehow, no one seems to remember when the extra appeared. It's as though it's always been there. In other words, it would feel more as though one plane of existence had suddenly shifted into another, to use a multiverse scenario.

Let's give class 3-3 a hand. How would you go about finding out who's the dead one?
Personal memories and school records have been altered to make it look like the another has always been there, and the effect may even be more widespread than that. In addition, even the another's memories have been altered and they think they're still alive also.
I think I would start by checking into the students' homes. Start with the ones that are said to be "living alone." If that comes up empty, then move on to the rest.

Let's give class 3-3 a hand. How would you go about finding out who's the dead one?
Personal memories and school records have been altered to make it look like the another has always been there, and the effect may even be more widespread than that. In addition, even the another's memories have been altered and they think they're still alive also.
I think I would start by checking into the students' homes. Start with the ones that are said to be "living alone." If that comes up empty, then move on to the rest.

I was thinking about that too. The only solution to track of there existent is the source of location and that hunted mansion is the final place. And who is the owner that mansion might be?

Let's give class 3-3 a hand. How would you go about finding out who's the dead one?
Personal memories and school records have been altered to make it look like the another has always been there, and the effect may even be more widespread than that. In addition, even the another's memories have been altered and they think they're still alive also.

I would use the route that Sakakibara and Misaki are probably to take from Episode 6: Investigate the source of the curse, that is, what happened to the original Misaki, to the Class of '72?

It's more than likely that the "extra" would be living with family just as normally as everyone else. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be able to go through each day thinking it was still alive and "normal". The family members are either going to be just as oblivious to the extra's supernatural existence as everyone else, or are possibly just as dead.

For example, if the curse isn't exorcised by the end of the year, Sakuragi could reappear in future classes, along with her mother, outside of school. Both of them wouldn't be aware that they are dead. For them, it would be as though they are living in the year that everyone else knows they've lost. Again, to use my multiverse analogy, it would be as though Sakuragi and her mother's alternate reality got spliced into the time-space that everyone else exists in. (Think of the resultant deaths as the conservation of energy in this time-space.)

That being the case, I think it would be next to impossible to find out where the alterations occurred. It would require some extraordinary ability to deny one's physical senses, to completely ignore what one's brain thinks it perceives to spot the blurred boundaries between two different realities. (Maybe this is how Misaki's doll's eye would come into play.)

The key then would be find out why the dead keep coming back, rather than to find out who the "extra" is. It started with the original invitation, the initial denial by the Class of '72. How would you undo that invitation, to uninvite the dead?

Yes, but the another is taking the role of a student in class 3-3, otherwise the student count wouldn't be one extra. An additional reason it's a student is that 3-3 of '72 recalled their dead classmate. So, in the following years, there was a "space" for an extra student.

But if the records are altered, why keep it as a student? If I had the power to alter memories or records and didn't want to be discovered, I'd do something to shift the suspicion away from me. So if I was a teacher, I'd make them think it was an extra student.

1. Mei is a real living person.
2. Sakakibara was supposed to follow the class rules and ignore Mei, he fucks it up.
3. A change in headcount is the assigned cause of the curse, and no one remembers who the new person is.
4. It's inherently tied to the students and not some physical room or something like that.

Mei seems to suggest that one of them in the class now is either an immortal or a continuous reincarnation of previous students, thereby causing the class to always have 1 more student. When you consider point 4, it makes a bit of sense that if the curse is not limited to a physical place, then it exists as being tied to a factor shared by people that gives them a "Class 3 Quality."

So as it stands, I'm inclined to think that the binding factor in the curse is that there is this "quality" that inherently makes you a Class 3 student. This quality is what ties them all to death and causes the curse to manifest.

The one thing I wanted Mei to answer is why she was ostracized. If headcount is the source, and Sakakibara is the one that caused the excess, then I can only think of 2 logical reasons that Mei is ostracized:

1. Because Sakakibara will definitely be acknowledged, someone took the bullet and gets ignored for all their sakes. Mei was chosen for some reason.
2. Mei is involved in the curse further back, and has been ignored for a long time.
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I was reading the other speculation/general thread when I came across two facts that could be very significant: (well, they destroy my personal crack theory entirely but hey, it's interesting)

Spoiler for Two Facts on weed:

1. There is a real life murderer called Sakakibara.

Sakakibara Seito to be exact. It seems as if his profile on wikipedia was tailor made to fit right into Another's central mystery. He is a schoolboy who lived in a small town and he murdered a girl. This would make kinda sense and reveals a possibility that the "curse" refers to the murder of a girl from the Misaki family by someone from the Sakakibara family. Also explains the "your name means death" remark.

2. Misaki could be a male name.

This little fact I accidentally found out while wikipediaing Sakakibara. Misaki is both a given name AND a surname in Japan. It has been speculated that Misaki is male in the other thread but then again, so what? How does it link to the mystery 26 years ago? We know a certain Misaki died, but how do we know whether Misaki was her given name or surname? (Is Mei a surname by the way?)

But then again, this line of thinking is kinda pointless since it has been pointed out that it is a girl who died. *coughhermaphoditecoughcoughcough*

Yeah well, I really doubt the author would pull such a dirty trick on us that it is actually a guy who died, or some girl named Sakakibara Misaki killed Misaki, and took her place, and the seven main characters in the ED and OP are descendants of the original Class 3. Ok, enough of the sandwich, I'll go back to enjoying the show.

I was reading the other speculation/general thread when I came across two facts that could be very significant: (well, they destroy my personal crack theory entirely but hey, it's interesting)

Spoiler for Two Facts on weed:

1. There is a real life murderer called Sakakibara.

Sakakibara Seito to be exact. It seems as if his profile on wikipedia was tailor made to fit right into Another's central mystery. He is a schoolboy who lived in a small town and he murdered a girl. This would make kinda sense and reveals a possibility that the "curse" refers to the murder of a girl from the Misaki family by someone from the Sakakibara family. Also explains the "your name means death" remark.

2. Misaki could be a male name.

This little fact I accidentally found out while wikipediaing Sakakibara. Misaki is both a given name AND a surname in Japan. It has been speculated that Misaki is male in the other thread but then again, so what? How does it link to the mystery 26 years ago? We know a certain Misaki died, but how do we know whether Misaki was her given name or surname? (Is Mei a surname by the way?)

But then again, this line of thinking is kinda pointless since it has been pointed out that it is a girl who died. *coughhermaphoditecoughcoughcough*

Yeah well, I really doubt the author would pull such a dirty trick on us that it is actually a guy who died, or some girl named Sakakibara Misaki killed Misaki, and took her place, and the seven main characters in the ED and OP are descendants of the original Class 3. Ok, enough of the sandwich, I'll go back to enjoying the show.

Well the empty slot in the original picture and in the class roster before Koichi came on board were male slots in both instances. So I still think that original Misaki is male.

To quibble with TRL, I don't think we know Mei is a "real, living" person. We know she's corporeal, and that the other students can see her but choose to pretend they can't. But if everyone's memories are altered, I see nothing precluding the possibility that Mei (or whoever is the designated "dead" person every year) could actually be the "another".

But if the records are altered, why keep it as a student? If I had the power to alter memories or records and didn't want to be discovered, I'd do something to shift the suspicion away from me.

You're forgetting even the another doesn't realize that they're dead. Whatever "force" is putting dead people in that class seems to be seperate from the dead that end up there.
And as I said before, the actions of class 3-3 of '72 created a "space" for a student who should not have been there. For the dead to use this "space" they have to be a student. If the dead one was a teacher or staff, the curse should affect the whole school, not just a single class.

1. In episode 5, Kou receives a note from Mochizuki (the art club kid), telling him to ask Mei for more details. Why has no one questioned this act yet? If merely speaking her name causes people to die, why hasn't any concern being raised over Mochizuki yet? It's possible that he will die next episode, but the mere fact that this doesn't seem to bother anyone seems odd to me. This looks to me like all the deaths so far are purely coincidental, and that Mei's story is either a lie, or a figure of speech.

2. A bit later, when Kou goes to visit her, Mei says that her silent treatment didn't start at the start of the school season, but since May 1st, a few days after the death of her cousin. That looks quite significant to me, but I don't see anyone here taking note of that. I think that, as well as the resemblance of her name to the Miskai of '72, is the reason why they're shunning her.

To quibble with TRL, I don't think we know Mei is a "real, living" person. We know she's corporeal, and that the other students can see her but choose to pretend they can't. But if everyone's memories are altered, I see nothing precluding the possibility that Mei (or whoever is the designated "dead" person every year) could actually be the "another".

Well, of course, just as there is nothing to preclude the possibility that Sakakibara is the "extra". In fact, everyone is a suspect. I've even come across a comment on MAL saying that we, the viewers, are the "extras".

It's possible that Mei's cousin's death was caused by the curse. Remember the curse extends to relatives as well. That may be why Mei was selected to be ignored.

My money is currently on that the protag is the "Another". Remember the countermeasures girl's comment that she seemed to have seen him somewhere before and how she tried to ascertain whether he had lived here before? He probably died in episode 1 and their memories all got altered.